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Subject:boar in japanese print
Posted By: francis minvielle Thu, Mar 19, 2026 IP: 82.226.118.25

What do the kanji on top of the print say, and what does the large sign on the right mean?
A satirical unsigned print?



Subject:Re: boar in japanese print
Posted By: Irwin Sat, Mar 21, 2026

The kanji read 当時流好諸喰商人尽(“A Complete Set of Merchants Selling the Popular Foods of the Day”)
The sign reads 山くじら literally meaning “mountain whale.” Although it says “whale,” “mountain whale” (yama-kujira) actually means boar meat. Yama-kujira was a euphemism for boar meat that became widespread in the late Edo period, when meat eating was prohibited under the Edicts of Compassion for Living Things. This transcription is taken from a description of the print when a copy came up for auction on Yahoo Japan. Go to https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1082118352

Subject:Re: boar in japanese print
Posted By: francis minvielle Sun, Mar 22, 2026

Thank you Irwin!

Subject:Re: boar in japanese print
Posted By: I.Nagy  Sat, Mar 21, 2026

Top,
當時流好諸喰商人尽
Tōji ryūkō sho-shokushōnin tsukushi
All the popular food vendors of the time (Series)

Large sign,
山くじら
Yamakujira
Mountain Whale*

* During the Edo period, when eating wild-animal meat was prohibited, this was a code word for the meat of wild boar

Regards,
I.Nagy

Subject:Re: boar in japanese print
Posted By: francis minvielle Sun, Mar 22, 2026

Thanks a lot


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